I owe everything to movies. Film festival work pays the bills and making a fil is fun. But punk rock movies taught me about the world and let me know I wasn’t insane. To be fair, cinema has always been proud of its rebellion, but you connect most to what was around you as a kid. I wish something like the guide below was around then, but if you want something that doesn’t exist, you have to create it. I tried to keep this relatively easy to find the films (in our sad, sad age of no video stores besides the odd, lucky holdout). Many of the films are available for streaming, rent, or sale online. Some are just underground enough to pop up for free in places. And don’t get rid of your DVD and Blu-Ray players.

I wanted to make an overview that’s a fun mix for any generational fan of punk. If you’re old and creaky like me, you know most of the golden oldies, but there are always one or two great discoveries that slipped through, ready to finally check out. This is a compilation of films that don’t have punk music, but a punk ethos. I tried to fill it with lesser-known gems you might not have seen that will either reestablish or uphold your faith.

And if you’re younger and know there must be a huge archive of cool shit from the past to check out, this is a great diving board. I generally stayed away from concert films. Those are pretty easy to find if you’re searching for a band you like. I tried to stick with movie-movies and documentaries.

Author: Mike Plante
Publisher: Razorcake Press
Page Count: 32pp
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Notes: saddle-stitched, b/w
Date of Publication: 2019